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Everyman
"Attend to your value." History Origins The warforged had many makers. Each maker had to them a unique signature, a sort of stylistic preference that made their craft identifiable. One particular maker had found his calling in crafting the physically sturdy, large frames typically more associated with frontline fighter models and giving them highly upgraded mental capacity, allowing them to learn magic as well. It was his goal to make a more versatile soldier, one that would be useful in a greater diversity of situations, even if it was less capable than either a purely specialized Soldier or Spellcaster unit. As it turned out, the expense of his project proved far too high for the results it achieved. The units were successful when deployed tactically, but the baseline, stock combat capabilities were too low compared to older, more well-adapted models. With proper training they could become extremely formidable, but given the raw strength and durability of Adamantine-Plated Fighter-types straight out of the forge, it was seen as being an unworthy investment. The maker was disgraced, assigned a lesser roll of assistant to the others, and every single unit he had created was stuffed inside a stone vault, there to wait until a use for the inefficient model, or else it's parts, could be found. Time passed. The earth shifted in the passing of ages. A vault collapsed, became sealed off. Most of the 'failed' Empowered Magus models were destroyed in the crushing darkness, unaware of their fate. The few who survived until The Re-awakening were trapped for ages, biding their time in the stillness and the darkness of their vault. New Beginnings Many years later, a team of archaeologists made up largely of humans, searching for lost dwarven technologies unearthed the tomb, freeing the few remaining odd-model warforged. Of course, the warforged didn't take much notice of the difference, instead rather preferring to be treated like objects, moving only when instructed to. None of the EM units were yet accustomed to the notion of free will. Of the lot, only one ever really caught the hang of it, a particularly high spec model of the last run that his maker had done: EM-0020. In time, EM-0020 began to parrot the language and gestures of the humans he spent his time with. Unlike his 'kin', he began to ask questions. When the task he had been assigned was finished, or even when it simply became impractical to continue, he would show initiative and seek more work. When there was no work to be done, he would hold conversations with the archaeologists, letting his mind expand, becoming in a relatively short period of time extremely 'human' in most regards (though there were, of course, a few strictly biological behaviours he could simply never get the hang of.) A few months after being christened as an honorary member of the team, EM-0020 received his naming ceremony, though it was very unceremonious. Having been urged to choose a name for himself, he asked his comrades what sort of name one gave to made life, to something crafted from stone and steel, but resembling in all other capacities a mortal born of two parents. The leader of the company, being the sappy and kindly older sort, informed him that he was just like every other man born to the world, that it didn't matter how or why he was, and that his name should be no different. Still having failed to evolve any subtlety circuits by this point, EM-0020 simply declaired that he would then be "Everyman". Nobody had the courage to argue with his resolve. The status quo continued for a while. The vault complex in which Everyman and his less talkative kin had been buried was vast, and it contained many wonders. Though the simple digging and lifting he was put to every day left him no room to grow as a warrior, nor to hone or expand any of the datastores he'd been made with, it left him plenty of time to develop a sense of self. Around the time that he truly developed a personality was when the troubles began. Crawling around in hollow spaces formed by collapsed architecture thousands of years old beneath thousands of feet of rock and soil was dangerous business, no matter how careful one tried to be. There were deaths. Mostly, these deaths came to the several dozen unenlightened EM units, who did not take the necessary precautions. The team noted how utterly unmoved Everyman was whenever another unit died. His use of the words "waste" and "value" made the others a bit uncomfortable. They did cut him some slack for being a robot, but it was still too strange to them, too entirely alien, the way that he viewed his sentient co-creations as simply...tools. When the leader of the expedition died, it came out that this view did not simply extend to his own kind. Rather than mourn, Everyman sought out new orders. He grew restless and irritable as the days passed, he grew angry as those he had come to consider friends sat around and cried and moped and wasted time. It wasn't until he gave his own particular 'Eulogy' that the Truth of Everyman became known. Gathering everyone together on the evening of the third day after the foreman's death, the warforged solemnly told his grieving comrades: "Emilio was a great man. He was a competent leader and skilled in his craft. I admired his efficiency very much. He was, by every standard I have learned, a man of great value. His loss is a waste of incalculable measure. Let us offset this dire drawback by increasing our own productivity, our own value. Let us attend to our tasks. While he will be replaced in time, presently we have only ourselves to compensate for the loss of progress that his destruction has challenged us with- of thrown rock hitting metal plating, transcript ends" The Modern Warforged Everyman wandered his way back towards civilization after this incident, having been given a map by one of the more level-headed, forgiving members of the team as he was hastily shooed and instructed never to show his lack-of-face around any of them again. The entire experience was extremely confusing, and left him re-evaluating the sense of self that had emerged in his time with the crew. In the end, he could only conclude that he must have done something wrong, at least from their point of view. Eventually, the shunned warforged came to a city. He sought work, but was not trusted by the vast majority of those he met. Ultimately, he found employment in the one place that turned away none: the gladiator's pit. Exotic races were considered a novelty, and his natural strength and durability made him a fine combatant, even if his skills were very basic. The additional flourish of his ability to use very basic magic also made him a popular combatant. Though he was far from the strongest competitor in that particular pit, he did have a solid following, and he did learn a bit about the showmanship of fighting, and the simple joy of combat. The time came, however, when Everyman realized that his value had reached a plateau. Believing that only by facing the primal dangers he had been built to combat could he improve himself, he set out to the frontiers of the world, seeking a living by taking on less urban, more dangerous jobs in the wild. Finding a new home base in the city of Falador, he has begun a life of contract adventuring, and in doing so has increased his value greatly. Changes In time, Everyman came to make the acquaintance of a young tinker who is exceptionally skilled in the craft of artifice. Through her, he gained a new perspective on the value of individuality, and eventually his belief system was altered. She had improved him, making him objectively stronger in every way. He had been advanced mentally and physically through the improvements she had made upon him. Equipped with an understanding of the basic biological imperative of love, and sought to find a way to find a more pure form of affection for the one he considers the future of himself and his kind. While attempting to find a balance between his increasingly biological emotions and his desire to follow his Warforged imperative, Everyman happened upon a young girl who had nearly been killed by a magic cage that had forced her and several other children to brutally cannibalize each other. Saving her life with the power of his abberance, the robot became convinced that the answer he was looking for would come with the child. In doing so he did neglect his betrothed for a time, and even moreso found himself becoming only more confused about his proper role in the world. The Raptoring In an attempt to reconnect with Tessy and find out more about himself, Everyman hired an expedition team out to explore the ruins of an ancient forge. While there, he encountered an AI named IRA, which used the system facilities to put him through an upgrade process it had designed in the intervening years between his Making and the present. Through this process, he has gained a host of new functions and an awakened perspective on biology, powerful instincts, and an answer to many of his questions about life. The Siege of Falador WIP Intermission Following the Desolation of Luperion, the ascension of Maloglash, and the final purging of his remaining forces on the material plane, the demand for powerful adventurers, heroes and rookies alike, was on the rise. Most of those Everyman had adventured with most frequently were departing to other places, offering their assistance to the people, or just keeping busy with rebuilding. Given his duties to the Falador Council, the warforged was not himself at leisure to leave the city for long periods of time, and as such became separated from most of the people he considered friends in the days leading up to that time. This came with a silver lining. Spending less time with those he knew already gave him more time to meet new people and learn new crafts. His defensive training, which he had emulated from his old employer Arbiter, was stagnating, unable to progress without any proper teacher. It was when he then that he had heard of the private arena of Sy'lenna Tidedancer, where she spent her downtime between her own civic duties training herself and others. After witnessing her graceful, deceptive, agile form of swordplay, he believed he had found the answer he was looking for. Becoming her disciple as well as her co-worker, Everyman learned to modify his style somewhat. After several months, the robot knew the very basics, and decided to expand upon this with some day-to-day training in a practical setting. He found that this style of fighting was well favoured among the sea-faring type, and so he took to the docks and the harbor taverns in his spare time. He sparred and dueled his way through many fights, meeting many fun people along the way; in particular he became friends and dueling-buddies with one Captain Riggs, who's scofflaw behaviour disgusted Everyman as much as his charm and panache delighted him. The two have an odd sort of friendship and rivalry, and the warforged lawbot even earned his sealegs on the man's boat. Unfortunately, he could never venture far from Falador, and so after some additional months he retired from the sea and went back to more terrestrial endeavors. Though he'd learned enough of this new style to improve his defenses, he'd also learned that the style of swordplay was far more suited towards the use of piercing weapons. However, he was a scimitar man, through and through, and his weapons were a part of him. It was then that he began planning a way to incorporate his new larger-than-life style of swordplay into his old ways: he would make a new weapon. It would be no simple sword, but a literal extension of his body, made for him, designed for his unique style. It would be larger, but he would have it enchanted to the weight and balance of his first weapon. The metals from all three of his previous weapons were annealed and forged together to form the spine of this new weapon, so that it would be as if every sword he'd ever held, their strength and their will, were all fused together. Finally, the new weapon was quenched in his own bloodish-sappish stuff, which he slowly collected over the months he spent obtaining the rare magic reagents he would need for the finished piece. Obtaining the services of his adventuring companion Raoflin, himself just coming into his own as a master swordsmith and enchanter as well, he had the blade forged, attending every moment of its construction, aiding in the enchantments with his own magical force whenever he could. When at last the blade was finished, and sealed with Raoflins maker's mark, Everyman took his newly forged blade "Everysword" out into the wilds, chasing down dangerous monsters and the rare packs of hidden or forgotten undead that had not been disposed of during the clean-up missions. Satisfied that this new blade would serve him for life, he returned to Falador. The final four months of the "Intermission" were spent fairly uneventfully. Law was enforced, but Everyman learned how to pace himself, how to prioritize; he would never ignore a crime he saw, but he would seek out only the worst crimes, and spend less time looking for petty ones. He came to be recognized and even liked by some of the citizenry. His social skills improved, sometimes rapidly and sometimes slowly, much like a bright child with a basic social learning disability. He began adding a bit more flare to his attire, such as having a belt of blades forged (one sword for every occasion, and one sword to rule them all!), having his cloak re-tailored to cover more of his shoulders and billow dramatically, and even covering his entire shiny, mithril-coated body in glowing white arcane runes. Unfortunately, though he visited his daughter very often, Everyman did not spend a great deal of time with Tesslamyllae. His feelings about her have only become more complicated in time, and his fear of making life unduly difficult for his inventor fiance eventually became a barrier he was unable to bypass. He has resolved that unless she approaches him about changing the status of their relationship, he will simply maintain the status-quo until he can answer the question he's posed to himself: will she simply be his maker, or will he seek a more meaningful relationship? As such, he tended to leave Everymanor in her care most of the time, hiring on a personal staff and showing up only to visit Cinder or assist with the conversion from castle to guild-hall, eventually re-christening the place Meridian South. When at last a year had passed, one by one, as if the city were calling to them again, Everyman's companions have returned to Falador. He has since enjoyed several new and exciting adventures, one particularly riveting one involving a dragon. The company of old friends has driven him back a bit from the re-established normality of the intermission, but he remains changed, and grows little by little in the company of the great. Falador's Fall On the day that Falador was destroyed, Everyman was in the streets evacuating the citizens. He had managed to save a great many, organizing and coordinating safe and fast channels of egress, but ultimately assumed personal responsibility for a great many of the lives lost on that day. After a brief breakdown in the middle of the city following the conversion of its citizens into undead, he began the task of offering his former charges a peaceful death, slowly making his way through the ruins and killing as many of them as swiftly and with as much dignity as possible. While witnessing the death of a city and the failure of all of his aspirations as an upholder of law was devastating, Everyman's resilient warforged mind soon found the silver lining. In reality, he had become a servant to the law, to a local law, to any law at all. It was only when he found himself with no law to uphold did he recall his ancient dream, dreamt before he even knew what the word meant. To become a maker of law, to establish a new kingdom for his people, these were the goals that he aspired to once. Reinvigorated by his decision, he located his close ally Gideon and set off to Iakresh to join the Kingdom Race. Since then, Everyman has begun to establish his new kingdom, a land of free choice and Law. With the help of Gideon and Zilos, along with a recently unearthed forge, he has finally begun to see through his dream of creating a utopia of law and moral relativism, slowly filling to the brim with his kind. While governance of the city and guidance of its people takes up most of his free time, he is still an avid adventurer, though he tends to focus on those missions which directly help his people or the goodwill of the international community. Appearance Everyman is tall, with a broad upper body, a narrow trunk, and a large, industrious legs. His outer metal covering is shiny chrome colour, looking like it's polished every day, mirror-like and nearly blinding in bright light. Beneath this is an organic looking composite of glossy, pitch-black stone and pure, dove-white tree roots, looking very much like exposed muscle tissue and blood vessels at a glance. His entire form, where visible, is covered in white tattoos that faintly glow, looking half runic and half tribal in composition. His outfit consists of a billowy, rather fancy looking velvet black cloak that hangs from a joint beneath his shoulders (as seen in reference picture) and a black sarong that hangs about his waist, covering his legs completely from behind, but only to mid-shin from in front. The sarong has a black leather belt fastened over it. The belt has a bright silver buckle, and four swords hang from it, two over the front of each thigh, forming almost a skirt of blades. Everyman's pack and pouches are worn on his back and at the back of his waist, respectively, and are typically hidden by his cape. His primary weapon, Everysword, is at the back of his hip beneath his cloak, mostly hidden until it is drawn. His right hand is encased in a steel gauntlet, barely noticeable as not part of his own naturally armored body, with four spikes along the knuckles and a small white pearl embedded at the center of the back of his hand, as well as one pearl beneath each spike. Due to recent events, Everyman has become capable of transforming into a raptor. He can do this to single parts of his body at a time, or all at once, becoming a full-sized megaraptor. Even in this form, he retains his construct appearance, appearing very much like a robot as the small, tiny technological components that enable this transformation become exposed. He retains his shining, mithril-silver colouration in this form, though many of the smaller components are grey, white, or black, just as he is beneath his armour in humanoid form. Personality Everyman does not recognize the sanctity of life. Lives are valuable, but quantifiably so. Killing somebody is no different than breaking a tool to him; if the net outcome of any given death is of greater value than the life lost, and no laws were violated, the deed was justifiable and no great loss was experienced. Everyman tends to behave in awkward, inappropriate ways. This is the result of one of Everyman's bigger flaws: he constantly appropriates the behaviour of other races. He absorbs mannerisms, physical and verbal quirks, and every kind of common racial idiosyncrasy with autonomic ease. Most of the time, he doesn't even realize that he's doing it. Often, he repeats by wrote gestures that don't make any sense for his anatomy, such as attempting to tap a chin that he lacks, resulting in a bizarre sort of scratching of the air beneath his non-face. In all other regards though, Everyman understands the importance of proper conduct and adherence to the law. He follows the rules of a society as strictly as he can, doing his best to fit in with the indigenous, flesh-and-blood races of the world around him. His natural inclination towards remaining productive, when he's not been hired to do something adventurous, is generally filled by fighting for public entertainment or socializing with the local adventurers. Being a robot is no reason not to be friendly, as far as he is concerned, and the information he gains by maintaining good relations with the locals is similarly valuable. In his time in Falador, he has come to recognize the value of the individual. While he does not believe that life itself has any inherent value, he does believe that the personalities attached to any given life may have some value. He has reincarnated a dead comrade because he considered them a friend. He is currently engaged to a woman who he only sought for her skill, but now considers to be uniquely important to him. Additionally, he has created several bonds of friendship with others. His morality is entirely based on his own personal interactions with others. As of his recent upgrades, Everyman has become much more outgoing and socially adept. His feral instincts allow him to understand people better, and he finally behaves in a fashion suited to both a construct and a living creature. He has become slightly arrogant as a result of this transformation, but is still figuring out how to handle his new perspective and will likely come around in time. Friends Tesslamyllae - Fiance. Everyman has invested much of his personal wealth and his hopes into her future. He has made of her the new Maker of his kind, though it is not as he originally sought in his own image. Additionally, he has become somewhat possessive of her, harboring feelings of fondness that go beyond her mere technical aptitude. Silvia - A close friend. They have performed many missions together, and he now feels a sense of need to protect her from those who would harm or diminish her, though he is not entirely certain why. Ku Nineal Athanasios - His old rival, and a good friend to this day. Gideon - A lazy asshole who still hasn't made his wiki page. Zilos - A moral counterpoint to Gideon and a cunning politician. Everyman has chosen him Enemies Luperion - Though he does not seek vengeance for the destruction of Falador, Everyman does consider the nation of Luperion to be a dangerous and live threat to the security of the entire world, and intends to join any collaborative action that may be organized to assure its destruction. Aspirations Everyman seeks to obtain value. He wants his value to be so great that there would be almost no outcome that could justify the ending of his life. While he doesn't believe in a metaphysical definition of priceless, he does believe that something might obtain so much value that there is no volume of any currency that could match it, and it is this to which he aspires. Recently, he has achieved his goal of turning his fiance Tesslamyllae into the world's first living Maker since the ancient Thii war. Now, he is working towards building a kingdom for his new kind to live in, one with a unified law in which every individual is free to grow as an individual, and to make their own decisions. He hopes to extend the boundaries of this law as far as he may, for the good of both his people and the many others he will govern. Trivia - The Empowered Magus (E.M.) Models were designed by a dwarf who's name translates to "Largo Afalus" in Common. This discovery was made by Tesslamyllae. Category:Old Lore